seeder Posted January 26, 2013 #1 Share Posted January 26, 2013 The Rise of Superbugs Called 'Apocalyptic Scenario' A prominent British health official has declared the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs so grave a threat that the world is now facing an "apocalyptic scenario" in which people die of routine infections. Dame Sally Davies, the U.K.'s chief medical officer (a role equivalent to the U.S. surgeon general), warned Parliament that contagious antibiotic-resistant disease is an imminent crisis and should be included on the government's official register of possible national emergencies, right next to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, according to the Guardian. http://news.yahoo.com/rise-superbugs-called-apocalyptic-scenario-162449696.html I always get suckered for sensational headlines.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+and-then Posted January 26, 2013 #2 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Bad news when one appears that there is no defense against. In our modern age we have nearly forgotten the way death used to accompany the most (by our standards) trivial incidents of injury. A scratch on the leg that gets dirty, stepping on a nail.... I used to do MRI for a living and I'll never forget one patient whose knee I was to examine. The doc thought he had an infection in the bone. He was in his 30's and had a red scar running from his ankle to his groin. This kind of scar is common for a cardiac bypass patient but he hadn't had heart surgery. He had a bug bite on his leg and scratched it with dirty fingernails. He acquired MRSA and had been in hospital off and on for months. Awful case. Bug bite, scratched it without even thinking.... had it not been for the drug armory available he'd have already been dead. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted January 26, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Bad news when one appears that there is no defense against. In our modern age we have nearly forgotten the way death used to accompany the most (by our standards) trivial incidents of injury. A scratch on the leg that gets dirty, stepping on a nail.... I used to do MRI for a living and I'll never forget one patient whose knee I was to examine. The doc thought he had an infection in the bone. He was in his 30's and had a red scar running from his ankle to his groin. This kind of scar is common for a cardiac bypass patient but he hadn't had heart surgery. He had a bug bite on his leg and scratched it with dirty fingernails. He acquired MRSA and had been in hospital off and on for months. Awful case. Bug bite, scratched it without even thinking.... had it not been for the drug armory available he'd have already been dead. ooh - thats scary... Im keeping my sanitizing gel ever closer! Ive had cellulitis from a fight, hit a guy once, and his teeth cut my knuckles wide open.... 7 days in hospital...hand puffed up like you wouldn't believe..the .docs say a mans mouth is more dirty than a dogs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentalcase Posted January 26, 2013 #4 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Bad news when one appears that there is no defense against. In our modern age we have nearly forgotten the way death used to accompany the most (by our standards) trivial incidents of injury. A scratch on the leg that gets dirty, stepping on a nail.... I used to do MRI for a living and I'll never forget one patient whose knee I was to examine. The doc thought he had an infection in the bone. He was in his 30's and had a red scar running from his ankle to his groin. This kind of scar is common for a cardiac bypass patient but he hadn't had heart surgery. He had a bug bite on his leg and scratched it with dirty fingernails. He acquired MRSA and had been in hospital off and on for months. Awful case. Bug bite, scratched it without even thinking.... had it not been for the drug armory available he'd have already been dead. I had a pimple on my philtrum once that turned nasty with MRSA. Had to have multiple surgeries on it. My mother got bite by a brown recluse spider on her nose once and developed MRSA as well. After surgery you could see her skull and eye socket through the hole. Now there's no scar on her nose, which is absolutely amazing!! However, I have a scar on my philtrum. From what my doctor said, MRSA is a fairly common bacteria living in most people's noses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted January 26, 2013 #5 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I got an infection on my scalp once from a barber accidentally cutting a mole. He dabbed it with alcohol but it got infected anyway. After a few weeks of antibiotics, it was cured; my doctor told me that if I had had this infection ten years earlier I would have died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docyabut2 Posted January 26, 2013 #6 Share Posted January 26, 2013 The super bugs are our own fault. They say it because people never finished the antibiotics that were given to them to kill the bugs. The bugs just stayed dormemt building resistances to the antibotics creating super bugs :)Now we have find new antibotics that may worked. I know I`m guilty as most people many times I thought well I feel better and never finish the pills BTW any one ready for the new strain of the norvirus, diarrhea and vomiting for week:( had it the last two years about this time, no fun:( http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/24/new-vomiting-virus-strain-behind-recent-us-outbreaks/?intcmp=HPBucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsteroidX Posted January 26, 2013 #7 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Superbugs are also caused by overusing common antibiotics destroying our natural bacteria of which we have much more of then bad bacteria allowing the more resistant strains to thrive in a less competitive environment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted January 26, 2013 #8 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Superbugs are also caused by overusing common antibiotics destroying our natural bacteria of which we have much more of then bad bacteria allowing the more resistant strains to thrive in a less competitive environment. Yes of course, but we have to understand that with any use of antibiotics at all organisms will evolve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbi Laveau Posted January 26, 2013 #9 Share Posted January 26, 2013 They keep saying we all have had too many antibiotics to fight off infections,and yet ,I don't know anyone who hasn't gotten better if they tale a proper course of antibiotics . Just who is dying from these alleged super bugs ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docyabut2 Posted January 26, 2013 #10 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Superbugs are also caused by overusing common antibiotics destroying our natural bacteria of which we have much more of then bad bacteria allowing the more resistant strains to thrive in a less competitive environment. I agree the overuse to.The way my old Doc explained it, We Doc s can`t cure any disease, only infections. We can only tell you how you may prevent a disease and when you get one try to control it .However now we can no longer cure the infections, because the bugs are finding resistences, just try to find new atibioctics that might worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod222 Posted January 26, 2013 #11 Share Posted January 26, 2013 I agree that the over-use of antibiotics will come back to bite us in a big way. We will have to get used to treatments from the pre-antibiotic era, and to accept that some infectuous diseases can not be cured. Pretty horrifying, but that is the predictable result of what mankind has been doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod222 Posted January 26, 2013 #12 Share Posted January 26, 2013 They keep saying we all have had too many antibiotics to fight off infections,and yet ,I don't know anyone who hasn't gotten better if they tale a proper course of antibiotics . Just who is dying from these alleged super bugs ? If you do some research, you will find documented cases. Luckily few so far, but expect that number to rise dramatically from now on. The pharma industry can not develop new antibiotics as fast as the bugs adapt to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Dave Posted January 26, 2013 #13 Share Posted January 26, 2013 (edited) Only threat here is the further study and engineering of h5n1... and that scares the hell out of me.. And bare in mind that usage of antibiotics in daily or frequment periods will make human system resistant to those too. Edit: For update recent news suggest that study will take effect in Netherlands which is even more scary, because face it in US they are abit paranoid over their security and because of that they actually have super security and it would make me feel much better if study would go on in some of their bases. No offense to anyone from Netherlands but i doubt the efficiency of security there. I'm just afraid that some highly sponsored group of highly trained people or mercenaries would take that "Hell" with ease. Edited January 26, 2013 by Tesla II Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan max2 Posted January 26, 2013 #14 Share Posted January 26, 2013 basically we need a new strategy other then antibotics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Fluffs Posted January 26, 2013 #15 Share Posted January 26, 2013 We actually need a superbug. The Earth's population is sky rocketing and we won't be able to cope much longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen in the North Posted January 26, 2013 #16 Share Posted January 26, 2013 This really does scare the living daylights out of me. Bacteria have millions of years head start on us, let's face it. People's obsession with anti-bacterial everything doesn't help, neither does people insisting they need antibiotics from the doc to get better from a cold, and people who are given them who don't take them all or on time are another problem. It also doesn't help that antibiotics are available OTC in some countries (please don't ask me which ones). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbi Laveau Posted January 26, 2013 #17 Share Posted January 26, 2013 If you do some research, you will find documented cases. Luckily few so far, but expect that number to rise dramatically from now on. The pharma industry can not develop new antibiotics as fast as the bugs adapt to them. The moment its very few documented cases ,I question the validity of any of it . Theyve been saying this for twenty years . It's just like true cases of bird flu ,non existant . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean93 Posted January 27, 2013 #18 Share Posted January 27, 2013 (edited) The bacteria are looking at us and saying: "They've had their fun but it's time we take back office." I've never been one to take tablets for things like a cold, the most I've ever taken was a Valium. I have taken few paracetamols and calpol's when I was a kid and that was for when I had a cough or one of them flu headaches, I can actually say I haven't had a pill in years...although I wouldn't mind a few Val Doodigans (Valium), knocked me the **** out and was awesome. Edited January 27, 2013 by Sean93 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamLegend Posted January 27, 2013 #19 Share Posted January 27, 2013 We actually need a superbug. The Earth's population is sky rocketing and we won't be able to cope much longer. Nature already does a pretty good job at keeping the human population down. In 3rd world countries where birth rates are out of control you see poverty, famine, STDs, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod222 Posted January 27, 2013 #20 Share Posted January 27, 2013 We actually need a superbug. The Earth's population is sky rocketing and we won't be able to cope much longer. That is a pretty cynical statement, but yes philosophically you could make a case that nature is curing itself here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod222 Posted January 27, 2013 #21 Share Posted January 27, 2013 I've never been one to take tablets for things like a cold, the most I've ever taken was a Valium. I have taken few paracetamols and calpol's when I was a kid and that was for when I had a cough or one of them flu headaches, I can actually say I haven't had a pill in years...although I wouldn't mind a few Val Doodigans (Valium), knocked me the **** out and was awesome. Yes, but everybody around takes them and helps breed the superbugs. Plus, have you ever considered the amount of antibiotics that you take while eating meat from farmed animals? Fact is, animal producers routinely feed pigs, cattle, and chickens small doses of antibiotics to prevent costly outbreaks of infections (which would quickly infect an animal population in the small space the animals are kept). It makes short term sense for the meat producer, but it is complete insanity in the long run. Yet, it is happening everywhere. So unless you are a vegetarian, you are already part of the superbug breeding club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen in the North Posted January 27, 2013 #22 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Yes, but everybody around takes them and helps breed the superbugs. Plus, have you ever considered the amount of antibiotics that you take while eating meat from farmed animals? Fact is, animal producers routinely feed pigs, cattle, and chickens small doses of antibiotics to prevent costly outbreaks of infections (which would quickly infect an animal population in the small space the animals are kept). It makes short term sense for the meat producer, but it is complete insanity in the long run. Yet, it is happening everywhere. So unless you are a vegetarian, you are already part of the superbug breeding club. It is insanity. Yet the other end of the (still meat eating) spectrum seems bad too - I've heard the stories of organic farmers desperate not to lose organic status on their livestock and so don't treat them when they are sick. I couldn't vouch for this info though, so please correct me if I'm wrong. It all makes me think subsistence agriculture is the way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willowdreams Posted January 27, 2013 #23 Share Posted January 27, 2013 you know, i was always told, as a child, and when i had kids, that the best way to help your child to be able to be healthier or stronger and more able to fight health issues as an adult is NOT to over do medicines as a child. For instance, when i was little, i was allowed to have a fever without medication. It was taught that your fever is your bodies way of fighting infections/illnesses and your body fighting off things built up more white blood cells. Now, if the fever got over 103 and unable to be brought down, then yes, go to a doctor, but I remember many of a time of having a fever, and just being given lots of drinks.. and cool baths/rub downs. Now nearing 50, i get seriously ill, i need very very little of anything to 'effect me'. It seems the smallest doses of almost any med will knock out whatever the issue is. Even in the hospital i got child doses of a lot of things. My kids, I did the same, they rarely got medicine, even over the counter meds. They got lots of drinks, lots of bathing.. and sleep. the only time i can remember with my daughter and son, that they got meds was when they got strep from the school. and when my daughter came down with a form of scarlet fever, As a result, in their late 20's they rarely get ill, and when they do, even without any over the counter stuff, they get better quicker then most. So i have to wonder, these superbugs.. how many pple have issues with fighting them off, because they were dosed with a lot of meds as kids and their bodies never got the chance to grow into itself to be a fighting machine against many things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod222 Posted January 27, 2013 #24 Share Posted January 27, 2013 So i have to wonder, these superbugs.. how many pple have issues with fighting them off, because they were dosed with a lot of meds as kids and their bodies never got the chance to grow into itself to be a fighting machine against many things? The way I understand the situation is like this: Because you have a solid immune system, the super bugs would have a harder time to get at you in the first place. But if they do and you want to knock them out with antibiotics, you are just as screwed as everybody else, because the superbugs are resistant to all the antibiotics available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willowdreams Posted January 27, 2013 #25 Share Posted January 27, 2013 The way I understand the situation is like this: Because you have a solid immune system, the super bugs would have a harder time to get at you in the first place. But if they do and you want to knock them out with antibiotics, you are just as screwed as everybody else, because the superbugs are resistant to all the antibiotics available. well, if they have a harder time of getting me, some may NOT, and i will be a bit better off, however.. i have to wonder something else. Not for me of course, perhaps for my children (i will not be having more kids, so i cannot be included in this).. what of pregnancy? If say my daughter is pregnant, and she is attacked by the superbugs.. admittedly she has a decent chance perhaps of fighting it off, but she could actually (dont think it htough,) die.. but what if she is pregnant and gives birth.. i wonder, genetically, how strong will the immunity of these children be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now